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Irish author, poet, and critic Thomas MacGreevy was born in 1893, in Tarbert, County
Kerry. During World War I, MacGreevy served as an officer of the Royal Field Artillery and
was wounded twice during the Battle of the Somme.

Following his discharge from military service, MacGreevy was educated at Trinity
College, Dublin, receiving a degree in history and political science. After completing his formal
education, he worked with Lennox Robinson and Miss Christina Keogh to organize several
libraries, including the Irish Central Library for Students.

In 1926 Thomas MacGreevy moved to Paris, where he taught English at the Ecole
Normale Superieure of the University of Paris, wrote literary criticism, and developed
friendships with a number of Irish writers, including Samuel Beckett, Denis Devlin, Brian
Coffey, and James Joyce. During the seven years MacGreevy lived on the Continent, he also
traveled throughout Italy with William Butler Yeats, worked on the staff of the art review
Formes, and was executor of James Joyce's estate, following Joyce's death in 1941.

Although MacGreevy was best known for his literary criticism, his first published work
was a translation of Paul Valery's Introduction to the Method of Leonardo da Vinci (1929). His
two critical studies - Richard Aldington, an Englishman (1931) and Thomas Stearns Eliot: a
study (1931) - were followed by his first book of poetry, Poems, published in 1934. He also
contributed articles to The Criterion, transition, and Dial.

Following Paris, MacGreevy moved to London, where he lectured on art history at the
British National Gallery and served as chief critic for The Studio, as well as contributing articles
to Connoisseur and The Times Literary Supplement.

In 1941 Thomas MacGreevy returned to Dublin and in 1950 was appointed Director of
the National Gallery, a post which he held until his retirement in 1964. As its Director,
MacGreevy diligently sought to establish the National Gallery as a cultural center for the Irish
nation. He devoted himself to procuring works of art for the Gallery, introducing the work of
Irish artists, and creating an appreciation for the visual arts in Ireland.

Prior to his tenure as Director, MacGreevy had developed a friendship with Jack B. Yeats
and had written a tribute to the artist titled Jack B. Yeats: an appreciation and an interpretation
(1945). Their friendship was marked by Yeats's increasing reliance on MacGreevy until his
death in 1957. MacGreevy's relationship with Eleanor and Frederick Reid developed because of
MacGreevy's service as an informal guardian to Yeats. MacGreevy was also executor of Yeats's
will and the organizer of an exhibition devoted to Jack B. Yeats in 1962.

MacGreevy continued to write and serve as a consultant for the National Gallery until his
death on March 16, 1967. His Collected Poems was published posthumously in 1971.

The twenty-four letters written by Thomas MacGreevy to Eleanor and Frederick Reid,
between 1954 and 1966, include seventy-eight pages of text and several enclosures. With the
exception of one typed card, which provided MacGreevy's change of address, all of the letters
were handwritten by MacGreevy.

Thomas MacGreevy became acquainted with the Reids through Jack B. Yeats. In
November of 1954 MacGreevy made the arrangements for Frederick B. Reid to visit Yeats and
to view paintings by Yeats at local galleries. MacGreevy's hospitality was deeply appreciated by
the Reids and a friendship grew from that experience, as well as their shared appreciation for the
work of Jack B. Yeats.

Although Thomas MacGreevy's early (1954) letters were dominated by his responses to
the Reids's questions about Jack B. Yeats, as the correspondence continued, MacGreevy began to
widen the scope of his discussions to include details about his family, his personal health, his
strong religious beliefs as a Roman Catholic, his work at the National Gallery, his activities
following his retirement, and reminiscences about his friendships with James Joyce, Samuel
Beckett, Wallace Stevens, and particularly, Jack B. Yeats.

The letters, which are arranged in chronological order, are filled with numerous details
concerning Jack B. Yeats, such as his devotion to his wife, his "mystical" feeling about roses, his
refusal to allow reproductions of his painting for print, and his religious faith.

Enclosures in MacGreevy's letters consist of one letter from his niece, Cliona Farrington;
a photograph of Cliona and her mother; a business card; and two clippings. The clippings are
from a local Dublin newspaper. One is a letter to the editor, in which MacGreevy - signing as
"Kerry Catholic" - presented his opinion on "racialism," and an article describing the opening of
the 1962 exhibition of work by Jack B. Yeats, which was organized by MacGreevy and at which
he provided remarks.

Located with the November 2, 1956 letter from MacGreevy is a letter written to Frederick
Reid by Harry A. Bigelow, in which Bigelow refers to Jack B. Yeats. It is unclear whether this
letter had been sent to MacGreevy, and was being returned, or whether it was simply placed
among the MacGreevy letters by Reid.

This small collection of letters provides insights into the life and work of Thomas
MacGreevy and his friendship with Jack B. Yeats.